Learn more

Open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science.

Sign up now for tons of free lessons like this one!

Back > Share
What's the best place to look for dinosaur fossils?
Back > Share

What's the best place to look for dinosaur fossils?
Lesson narration:
English Spanish
Scroll for prep
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Slide Image
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Slide Image
This belongs to an extinct animal—but what is it? You might have seen this shape before.
5
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
It’s a fossil shark tooth! Here’s how big its whole mouth was. This extinct shark is called a megalodon, which means “large tooth”!
5
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
Here’s how big a megalodon would have been compared to a great white shark! Megalodons ate whales and other sharks too!
5
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
A farming family in Michigan, USA, found something strange in their yard—a huge fossil! What kind of animal is this fossil from?
4
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
It’s the skull of a mammoth! That’s the ancestor of an elephant! Ancient people lived when mammoths were alive!
4
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Here’s part of a fossil of another giant creature. Can you tell what kind of creature it is? Hint: Do you see wings?
3
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
It’s a giant dragonfly! Before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, there were giant insects. Check out the size of these models!
3
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
This fossil animal is the size of a small car. It has a round, hard back...does it look like any living animals to you?
2
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Slide Image
Hint: It’s related to one of these three animals. Which one do you think it’s related to and why?
2
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
It’s related to armadillos! It’s called a glyptodont—here’s another fossil of one. It was huge, and had a spiky tail it used for fighting!
2
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
This is a sloth from South America. What do you think a sloth that lived a long time ago (a sloth’s ancestor) might look like?
1
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Today, sloths climb trees and don't usually stand up (they crawl). But their ancestors were as big as elephants and stood tall!
1
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Video trouble?
Slide Image
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
🎉 That’s it for this lesson! How did it go?
Sign up now for more great lessons!
Sign up
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Lesson narration:
English Spanish

Grades K-5

Current Events And Trending Topics

Fossils & Rock Types

Overview

In this mini-lesson, students discover the best places to look for dinosaur fossil--and how close to home that may be!

Exploration

5 mins

Grades K-5

Current Events And Trending Topics

Fossils & Rock Types

Extend this lesson

Writing

Activity

Slow internet or video problems?
Credits